Using a ride-sharing service in Beijing, such as Uber or local Didi Chuxing, is not possible without scanning your health QR code, city officials said amid an increase in Covid-19 cases in the nearby Hebei Province.
The driver will be able to refuse services to those who refuse to show and scan their QR codes from Monday, the state-run newspaper Global Times reported.
The color-based health QR code system was introduced in February in Beijing and more than 100 other cities to limit the spread of the coronavirus, which was reported in China in Wuhan more than a month earlier.
The app automatically generates a code for the user. A ‘green’ one means that they roam free in the capital, while ‘yellow’ and ‘red’ codes ask for self-isolation or under the supervision of quarantine.
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The color codes have already become a part of daily life in Beijing, as it is necessary to enter restaurants and shopping malls and, among other things, buy plane and train tickets. More than 29 million people have signed up to the health code app, authorities said in June, which is millions more than the total population of Beijing.
The system was implemented despite concerns about privacy and fears that mistakes could lead to healthy people being restricted. It also complicates life for the elderly, who are not always as technically proficient as younger generations.
Beijing recently tightened its Covid-19 restrictions after a new group of viruses was discovered in Hebei, the province around the capital. Of the 69 new cases of coronavirus reported in China on Sunday, 46 were in Hebei.
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Earlier this week, Beijing closed all places of worship and restricted access to a highway to Hebei’s capital, Shijiazhuang, while also testing the population on a large scale.
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